


i save you as i save my life

by Hydro1330



Category: The Underland Chronicles - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, Love, M/M, SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!!!!!, Unrequited Love, ares deserves happiness, first part: war, i’m inspired, second part: healing, two gigantic parts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-05-31 13:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15120617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hydro1330/pseuds/Hydro1330
Summary: Ever since Gregor the Overlander came, Ares was fascinated by him. And here is their journey to each other.





	1. Past

**Author's Note:**

> Whew, so this is gonna be my first work, for a new relationship in this fandom. I hope other people ship this like I do, because I think it’s about time we got stories about one of the best power duos in The Underland Chronicles.

“Ares the flier, I bond to you. Our life and death, are one, we two. In dark, in flame, in war, in strife, I save you as I save my life.”

The black flier was known for being strong, for being huge, for having a long wingspan. 

He stood impressively, towering above all others.

He was quiet, shy around strangers. But he was louder around friends.

He was also quite rebellious.

Most of the days he spent as a young flier were making fun and angering older fliers. He was never liked much, the others judging him for being a shadow and hated that he had friends that made him bolder.

Then Henry came along.

Henry. 

The human was of royalty, of the royal family. The to-be queen’s cousin. Basically of a group of humans that Ares thought would never choose him for a bond.

But Henry did.

They met a few years younger, as fliers and humans on a field for training.

Aurora, the flier that was soon to be Queen Luxa’s bond, had already met the girl and they were practicing in the air.

Henry, on the ground still, gave Ares a look of interest, then asked, “What do they call you?”

“I am Ares the flier,” says the flier back, quietly, not sure what to make of this human looking at him with such intrigue.

“What interests you, Ares the flier?” asks Henry, tilting his head, gazing at the flier with chilling purple eyes.

The flier then learns that Henry has heard of him, and he only felt a niggle of surprise. Sure, the fliers of the land had to know the troublemakers, but it was such of a story that the royals of the humans knew as well?

“You are wild,” Henry tells him once after training and flying. “You disobey. I’m wild, and I disobey. What say you, Ares the flier, if I ask you to be my bond?”

Ares did not refuse.

The sacred bond that if broken, punishes with death, is made between them.

—————————————

Began the years of learning what Henry enjoys, and what he does not.

They flew well together. They broke rules well together. They understood each other, they knew, almost, what the other thought. 

Ares did not mind. He and Henry would spent hours in their hideout that only they, Aurora, and Luxa knew about.

The queen was a kind being. Aurora enjoyed her immensely. They all did.

They spent the days away doing flips and tricks, making fun of humans and fliers alike. Henry grew so comfortable with Ares, and most of the time now, he did not have to hold on to the flier’s fur, because Ares would never let him fall too far.

With Henry, Ares became bolder, taking risks he did not dare to take before. And it was bliss.

—————————————

Henry’s parents died to the rats a few years later.

The human became cold. He became harsh. 

He never laughed playfully anymore. He played cruel jokes, and when Ares ever questioned, he would silence the flier.

Ares wasn’t sure what to do. He tried to be the best his bond needed. Constantly flying them to places, trying to never reach a place that would hurt his bond too much.

The place where they were safe from the rest of the world became Henry’s place to brood, and Ares’s place to try and be there for him.

Luxa’s parents died. And most of the time after were the two royal children curled up in the hideout, and the conversations held between Ares and Aurora.

“What fares you, Ares?” Aurora squeaks to him one evening as they keep watch over the city of Regalia at the entrance of the cave.

“Worry consumes me,” he replies. She’s silent then. 

A few more years of this and Ares doesn’t think he knows his rider anymore.

Henry had changed. And he couldn’t tell if it was for the better. 

But he made do with it. Whatever it was, he made do.

Ares had always hated being ordered. But it happened, more and more often, where he would let Henry take control because he simply didn’t fight it anymore.

He learned his lesson quick a few times after he tried to fight.

Henry never used to yell at him. 

But like Ares knew, Henry had changed.


	2. Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ares sees so many strange things in this Overlander.

And then the day when the two Overlanders fell from the world above came.

Henry was in a good mood, which was a relief, and Nerissa was becoming a year older. 

They had a match, and Henry and Ares were the star players. They had scored countless times and Ares felt like almost he could let all the hurt go -

And then the stadium grew quiet. Ares turned the two of them around, and there stood a group of crawlers, the leader with a torch, a young Overlander girl and a taller Overlander, both with brown eyes.

Henry had asked him, whispering into his ear quietly, “An Overlander.”

It was a rare sight to see, indeed.

Luxa had gone down there already, her purple eyes hard, and Ares watched as she talked to the two of them. Henry remained on him, but Ares knew he was watching closely as well.

None of the Overlanders were looking his way, so he flapped closer, wanting to take a closer look.

Dark skin, brown eyes, plump frame was the girl. Dark skin, brown eyes, tall and lanky frame, was the boy. 

Ares didn’t take his eyes off the boy.

The roaches came and went, and then after a moment the older Overlander had scooped up the younger - it was by now Ares had concluded they were siblings - and had tried to make a dash for the exit of the stadium.

Immediately Luxa ordered the bats after them.

Ares dove into the circle of bats that surrounded the Overlanders, and flew his way to the middle.

He feels Henry lie down on him and he tries to fight a sense of satisfaction.

“The Overlander thought he could escape,” laughs Henry quietly.

But then Ares is more amused at how the Overlander fakes them all out, than at Henry’s jibe.

That evening, after Henry arrived back from dinner, as they fly around the palace, he tells him of the Overlander and his sister, Gregor and Boots.

Gregor. Ares mulls over the name for a moment, then realizes Henry was still talking.

“What thinks you, Ares, when the Overlander has asked that, besides that bonds play ball with each other, what else do we do? He really has no clue!”

Ares tries to force the laughter out of him at this, but he couldn’t help feeling intrigued.

What else did the Overlander speak of?

His thoughts are interrupted again when Henry speaks, “Say, Ares, would you think he is the warrior the Prophecy of Gray speaks of?”

Henry has never brought this up.

Ares is quiet for a few moments, then speaks, “Perhaps he is.”

Or maybe the Overlander isn’t, because he nearly kills Perdita and Andromeda because he had the nerve to sneak out at night, and they had to rescue him from gnawers.

Henry doesn’t speak to Ares after that, furiously muttering to himself as he went to bed.

But Ares didn’t mind, because he was thinking of the fierce emotion in Gregor’s eyes as he leaped forward to save Perdita from the gnawer they call Fangor.

He was convinced then, the Overlander was the warrior.

—————————————

Most of the time on the quest, at the beginning, was watching the Overlander. Watching the way he looked around him, watching the way he guarded his little sister. Watching the way he spoke to the crawlers and the other humans.

Ares watched as Gregor talked back to Henry and Luxa, not caring if they were royalty. He felt a tinge of admiration, then immediately quashed it, knowing that’s something he should not be happy about.

He watched the fire in the Overlander’s eyes dance. He sees the urge to find his father.

Ares sees so many strange things in this Overlander. 

When Gregor was ordered to ride on Ares, the flier felt excited. An Overlander on his back, gripping his fur, and Ares being able to assure the boy he won’t drop him.

And then he wondered if it was alright to feel this way.

Then tried to not think about the way Gregor held his fur as they flew, and he wondered if the Overlander was afraid in a way, of heights. But yet he has the courage to sit upon a flier.

It was foreign, but interesting.

And then he was impressed, always became more impressed - at how Gregor used a simple Overlander drink to save the queen of Regalia - it was magnificent.

And the way he made them all laugh, after the high of everything. 

Ares wanted to ask him. He wanted to ask him countless things of the world above.

Yet he was always watching from a distance.

—————————————  
When he first gets an inkling of Henry slipping away - actually slipping, nothing like his quiet bouts where he didn’t even talk to Ares and instead to Luxa - it was when Henry tried to kill Ripred in his sleep.

The Henry he knew - or the one he thought he knew - resorting to foul play. It was unheard of.

But it was still his duty, he realizes as he sees the gash in his bond’s arm, to protect Henry.

And so he dives for the rat.

And somehow the Overlander still surprises them all, jumping in between a lethal rat and Henry, and shouting for them to stop.

How much bravery, have this human, with no formal training, to jump between a royal and a rat?

Ares wanted to know. He wanted to know so much, it was painful.

And yet he still looks on as Gregor declares that they would have to go through him to fight with each other, and he wants to know what the Overland has taught this human.

What made Gregor, Gregor.  
—————————————

Ares was really beginning to hate tunnels. And how he wasn’t able to detect the rats. 

They were right on top of them. Henry had already launched himself onto Ares, and the flier propelled them across the river, fast.

Yet Ripred was faster, carrying the Overlander and his pack between his teeth, and dropping him on the other side of the bridge. Gox followed them.

And as Ares landed, Henry jumping off with his sword in hand, the flier watched as Gregor constantly tried to go back for his sister, who was strapped to the crawler who was still crossing the bridge, but Ripred kept knocking him down with his tail

And Ares almost left his bond to go save the two still left.

But Temp was already coming in fast, and the other crawler - Tick - wheeled around-

And faced the flood of rats, all by herself.

Gox cut the last string, and Ares watched, eyes wide, as the lead rat crushes Tick’s head, and then the bridge was collapsing.

Then Ripred was there before the flier, nudging along Henry even as the human hissed at him. “Move it, move it, move it!”

And Ares kept his eyes not on his bond, but on Gregor.

When they stopped, the Overlander did not speak, and sat with the crawler, holding on to his sleeping sister’s fingers.

Then Ares knew he was starting to cry.

Ares looked away, for the sake of privacy, and tried to listen for any rats that could’ve made it after them.

At this point, Henry was talking hurriedly and quietly with Luxa, but the queen had pushed herself up and headed over to the Overlander. Henry stared at after her with almost a comically wide surprised expression.

And Ares watched, as Luxa put her hand on Gregor’s shoulder and spoke to him quietly.

He almost wished for a moment that that was him. 

But Henry would never forgive him for that.

Gregor eventually stopped crying, and then he and the queen gave his sister some more medicine. 

—————————————

Henry had an unnaturally calm expression on his face.

Ares had been beginning to suspect something was awry since the human tried to kill Ripred.

But he didn’t know what his bond was up to. He felt he should.

He’ll ask, after everything - after the Overlander finds his father, and they could go back to Regalia.

—————————————

There wasn’t an after. Only a betrayal.

It should have been something happy. It was. Gregor had reunited with his father and they were exchanging words. 

The human that was the Overlander’s father looked sick and weak, and Ares felt his stomach turn at the sight.

Luxa whispered to the spinner, and the the creature immediately began creating silk, and she comes over to Gregor and whispers to him while trying to tie the father to Aurora. “Henry, help me secure him.”

Ares immediately turned to Henry, but the human didn’t appear to hear -

And he was standing there with an odd expression on his face, away from the rest of them. And he turns toward his cousin, the queen of Regalia, with a small, satisfied smile. “No, Luxa, we have no need to hurry now.”

Luxa looked confused. Aurora looked confused. Gregor was staring at Henry, his father’s eyes focused on nothing but into space. Boots was asleep. Temp was quiet. Gox was quiet. 

And Ares should’ve known. He should’ve. But he didn’t. And he realizes, in recent years, he did not know Henry any more than a royal who was bonded to him.

Ripred was the only one who understood, and his eyes twinkled in clarity. “No, I believe Henry has taken care of everything.”

And then Ares felt the sinking feeling in his gut. 

“Henry had to,” says the human who was Ares’s bond since childhood, and then he whistled.

There was blood pounding in Ares’s ears, muffling Gregor’s questions and blurring out the edges of the queen, who dropped Gox’s rope. 

But the sounds of gnawer feet were crystal clear.

“It seems I am not the only spy among us, Overlander.” speaks Ripred to Gregor as Ares the flier, bonded to a traitor, began to close in on himself. 

Spy.

Henry the spy.

It fits him, Ares thinks.

“You mean, Henry - He can’t be! He can’t - I mean - what about Luxa?”

Yes.

What about Luxa?

“Sorry, cousin.” Henry’s voice is hurried as he turns to his cousin. “But I had no choice. We were headed for disaster under Vikus. He would ally us to the weakest, when our only real chance of survival is to ally ourselves with those who are most powerful. We will join forces with the rats and rule together, you and I.”

You and I.

Without Ares. Like the flier didn’t even exist.

Henry took him for granted. 

The flier didn’t think it would hurt much to hear this, but apparently, it did.

Because Ares thought he meant something to Henry once, but now, looking at it in a new light...

Maybe he never meant anything.

Luxa spoke calmly, but Ares saw the shock in her eyes. It made him feel worse. The two were so close. “Not now, Henry. Not ever.”

Henry’s eyes narrow, and he speaks, his voice cold, “You must, Luxa, you have no choice. You must join with us or die.” 

Words spoken with such confidence, but Ares could hear the shaking.

“This is as good a day as any. Perhaps better.” Luxa doesn’t break down, doesn’t sound fearful. And if Ares hadn’t felt like his heart was shattering into a million pieces, he would have felt proud.

Ripred cuts in, his tone sarcastic. “So they promised you a throne-“

Ares stops listening. He blocks it out instead.

There is nothing he wants to hear anymore.

The rats had appeared, spreading out and surrounding them. He sees Gregor and Ripred tense, and looks up to see a silver rat, King Gorger slink out from the crowd, a crown - 

Queen Judith’s crown. Hanging from the rat’s ear. Luxa gasps.

He stops listening again, memories of Henry and him tripping over each other, fighting to occupy the front of his mind.

He thinks of Henry’s lazy smile when they interlocked their hand and claw, and spoke the words of a sacred bond.

He thinks of Henry’s laughter.

He thinks of the battles they fought on the border.

He thinks of how the light faded from Henry’s eyes.

He thinks of Henry’s scorn.

And he eventually looks at the Henry before him, at this moment, in this time, being pushed forward by Ripred.

But eventually he hears everything again, crystal clear, when the king of the gnawers kills Gox.

And it reminds him that there are still creatures that need to be saved.

Ripred.

Luxa and Aurora.

Temp. Boots.

The Overlander’s father.

The Overlander himself. Gregor.

He hears the gnawers laughing. And he hears Henry’s voice, reading the Prophecy of Gray.

“The last who will die must decide where he stands. The fate of the eight is contained in his hands. So bid him take care, bid him look where he leaps-“

The Overlander suddenly shot off, and before Ares could think fast enough he was launching himself over King Gorger.

Luxa, Aurora and Ripred immediately attacked the gnawers as they were distracted.

But Ares was frozen. He sees Henry take off after Gregor, and the king as well - a whole group of gnawers. And then he takes to the air.

And from there, he sees Gregor jump off a cliff, and then he realizes -

“Bid him look where he leaps.”

The Overlander was going to die. To fulfill the prophecy.

But that couldn’t happen. 

Ares doesn’t know why, but he just knows it couldn’t happen. 

He won’t let the Overlander die.

And so he dives.

Wind was rushing in his ears, and he was avoiding sets of claws as gnawers try to snatch him, twisting and turning, and he sees Gregor nearly at the bottom and he has the sickening feeling he won’t reach him in time.

But he does. He can feel his feet scraping against the rocks at the bottom as Gregor falls onto his back, and then he was lifting himself up, ready to go back, to get Gregor to safety.

The human had buried his face into his fur, and at first he thought it was because of the shock - he hears the breaking of bones.

And then in the calm that followed, Ares remembered -

Henry was falling too, but he didn’t see. He had called out for him. Expected him to save him. But Ares didn’t.

 

He didn’t have look back to know.

Henry is now dead.

He let Henry die.

It was all a blur, after that. He feels Temp get onto him as well, he sees the Overlander’s father board Aurora and Luxa.

He stops when Gregor exchanges words with Ripred, who was covered in blood, and the flier couldn’t tell if it was his own. 

The gnawer bared his teeth, which might have been a smile, shouted a few words of goodbye, before he took off with several gnawers behind him. 

Gregor replies, and then falls silent.

Ares realizes dimly that he missed the gnawer now.

He follows Aurora into a tunnel, and knew he had to focus. And then he grows aware of the Overlander shaking, and then the sensitive action of him pressing his face into the flier’s neck.

And Ares knew immediately, he should say something. For the Overlander needed comfort. He needed the Overlander to trust him too.

Trust was something the flier was not often given.

He says quietly, “I did not know, Overlander. I swear to you I did not know.”

There was a pause and the human gripped his fur harder. Ares feels his stomach clench, but not because of the slight pain.

“I believe you,” Gregor the Overlander whispers.

The storm inside him lessens a little.

And he realizes that this was the first time they have ever spoke a complete sentence to one another.

Henry’s words came back to him, the last words of the prophecy.

“The last who will die must decide where he stands. The fate of the eight is contained in his hands. So bid him take care, bid him look where he leaps, as life may be death and death life again reaps.”

It was about Henry himself. And he died, for he made the decision...himself.

Aurora broke into his thoughts. “Ares, we are lost.”

“Overlander,” he tries to nudge Gregor but then decides better against it. “We have troubles.”

Gregor immediately rouses. “Why? What’s wrong?”

Ares tells him of their situation.

“You mean we’re lost? I thought Luxa said you could get us home in the dark.”

“Yes, we can fly in the dark, but we must know which way to fly. This area is uncharted by fliers.”

“What does Luxa think we should do?”

Ares can see Luxa burrowed in Aurora’s fur as he asks the golden bat, and he fears for the way she’ll appear when they arrive back home. 

Aurora says softly, “She cannot say anything.”

Ares tells him this, and then, “Aurora has a torn wing that must soon be mended if we are to continue.”

He feels Gregor fidget with the fur on his neck, and then his tone becomes more authoritative.

“Okay, look for a safe place to land, alright?”

Ares reports to Aurora this, and they soon soared over a large river, and then to a stone ledge, where they land. 

The Overlander is off the flier in a flash, running to Luxa and asking her questions.

Ares watches the two of them, then sees Gregor pull out a blanket from the pack attached to Aurora, and wraps the queen in it.

After the Overlander has turned to help Aurora, that’s when Ares lets himself succumb to the pain.

Purple eyes. Henry’s eyes were purple.

Henry’s not here anymore.

He’s not here and all Ares remembers is the way he laughed when they flew together, back when they were young.

Back when gnawers were nothing but a bad dream.

Henry’s dead, burst apart at the bottom of a cliff.

Henry’s not here.

And he cried out, he cried out, and because Ares saved Gregor-

How could he do that to his bond?

He let his bond die.

And what of his betrayal?

Sweet, funny Henry, a traitor. Of royal blood.

The human you would least suspect.

How long had he been with them? Allied with the gnawers.

Why did it have to be this way?

They were so perfect together.

And it is my fault he is gone.

He didn’t know how long he sat there overlooking the river, watching it run, but he knew it was a long time.

A very, very long time.

He heard the Overlander speak again. “Mount up, we’re going home!”

Home was Henry once.

Gregor hadn’t mentioned the gnawers, but once everyone was packed and ready, Ares took off hearing the gnawers climbing up trying to reach them.

This time he focused on flying, rather than thinking of the hell there will be in Regalia.

After a few hours, they find Regalia.

There’s horns blowing and humans waving their arms, and Ares only hears the wind in his ears and feels Gregor’s hands clenching his fur.

As they landed in the High Hall, he tries not to yearn for Gregor’s touch as it disappears, and was too tired to seek it again, and can sense humans picking the flier up and carrying him somewhere.


	3. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a new bond is made.

A moment passes in the dark room where he lies, unable to sleep, hearing Aurora’s soft puffs of breath.

He knows he doesn’t have long, so he closes his eyes, not to rest, but instead filling his head with the memory of the first day he saw Gregor.

Soon enough they came, and he blinks his eyes blearily as they surround him, and Solovet’s eyes are wide and furious as they burn into him, and she doesn’t have to say a word for the flier to know what’s happening to him.

The punishment for turning your back on your bond is being banished to the Dead Land, alone. And no one lives long alone.

He’s roughly hoisted onto the guards’ shoulders, his vision blurring for a moment, and he closes his eyes against it all.

The next moment he’s thrown onto a hard surface, and as he opens his eyes and gets to his feet he finds himself surrounded by the eyes of humans and fliers alike.

What the trial was for was clear.

The words the head member of the council cut through like sharp stones.

“Ares the flier, we call you here today, accused of allying with the traitor Henry. Do you validate this statement?”

Ares shakes his head.

“Nonsense! The flier’s as dishonest as he is! How do we know he is not lying to us, like he has to all the rest?” screams a council member.

Another council member shouts an agreement, but is quickly taken over by someone else, and then the room dissolves into an argument.

Then there’s a bang as the doors to Ares’s right open suddenly, causing everyone in the room to turn. Ares does as well, and there stands Luxa and-

Gregor.

The Overlander’s eyes were darting around the room, searching wildly until they rested on Ares.

They burned with an intensity and Ares blinked, and then the two humans were scrambling up the stage to him. Aurora appeared behind them.

“Stop!” shouted Gregor. “You can’t do this!”

Ares turns to see all the creatures in the room standing, eyes on The Warrior, and Vikus speaks. “Welcome, Warrior, and many thanks for all you have brought us.”

“Yeah, you’re welcome,” Gregor says offhandedly, and then, “What are you doing to Ares?”

Vikus looks at him, his eyes not accusing but tired, “We are about to vote on his fate. There has been much debate about whether he was privy to Henry’s plot.”

The Overlander’s eyes smolder. “He wasn’t! Of course he wasn’t! Or I wouldn’t be standing here! He saved me and let Henry fall when he realized what was happening!”

I didn’t know he fell. 

“He was bonded to Henry,” a red flier hissed. “It is difficult to believe in his innocence.”

Luxa immediately cuts in. “What of my innocence? No one was nearer to Henry than myself. Will you banish me as well?”

The red flier falls back with a sour expression while the fliers around him shift uneasily, and then comes back in with more of an accusing tone,  
“Even if Ares is cleared on charges of treason, there is still the issue of his breaking of the bond. That is in itself a cause for banishment.”

Gregor’s eyes widen comically, like he couldn’t believe the flier just said that. “Even when you find out you’re bonded to a really evil guy? Seems like there ought to be a special rule for that.”

Ares hears the ruffling of scrolls but keeps his eyes on Gregor, his heart pounding in his ears.

Someone screams, “Whether he is banished for treason or bond breakage, I care not. I just want him gone. Who among us could ever trust him again?”

Everyone began shouting again, and Ares closes in on himself, the noise deafening and adding to the storm inside him.

Gregor’s eyes dart around frantically for a moment, as if he was searching for an answer, and then he roars, silencing everyone, “I could!”

Ares’s heart stops.

Gregor’s eyes meet the flier’s, and they’re the most richest brown Ares has ever seen. “I trust him with my life.”

The flier was sure he stopped breathing.

He steps forward then, his arm raising, extending a palm towards the flier, his eyes never leaving. Ares gazes puzzledly at him for a moment, then understands.

Gregor meant to bond with him.

“Oh no, Overlander,” he forces himself to speak. “I am not worthy to accept.” 

He was sure he will never be.

But the human refused to be swayed, and grabbed Ares’s claw with his right hand, and the flier feels a jolt go through him.

_“Ares the flier, I bond to you. Our life and death are one, we two. In dark, in flame, in war, in strife…”_

The grip around Ares’s claw tightens. 

“I save you as I save my life.”

Everyone was absolutely silent. 

Luxa was behind Gregor, no doubt having fed him the words.

Of course the human forgot the words, but the willingness to bond with such a flier like Ares…

It brought him hope. But he still had doubt.

He felt that the Overlander will regret this, sometime later.

But at this moment, Gregor says softly,

“Say it. Please say it back.”

And Ares did.

“Gregor the human, I bond to you. Our life and death death are one, we two. In dark, in flame, in war, in strife, I save you as I save my life.”

The first time Ares called the Overlander by his name.

—————————————

Ares was cleared.

Gregor’s eyes were brimming with relief as he turned and squeezed Ares’s claw one last time. And then he blinked apologetically. “Well, I probably won’t be here much longer.”

The flier had his heart in his throat, figuratively, but he speaks calmly, “It matters not. While I have flight, I will be here always for you.”

The Overlander smiles at that, and Ares feels less afraid.

—————————————

The next day brings Ares to the docks, where Gregor was leaving the Underland with his father and sister.

The flier wasn’t sure what would come next. Every human and every flier would not want him near them, but he at least knew Luxa and Aurora would be here for him. 

And he knew he would be there, for Gregor.

It felt too soon, but soon the Overlander and his sister were gone, the only way that someone could tell he was ever really there was the remnants of warmth where he held Ares’s claw.

Ares flew back, not sure how he would get by with perhaps the world against him, but he simply knew he had to. 

He had to hang on, at least until The Prophecy of Bane calls his bond back to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going to China tomorrow... don’t expect too many updates. XD


End file.
